any local kids signing today

**cowboysnskynyrd** · February 5th, 2012, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by gchs_devils

You would think anyone in swva whose ran in their backyard for the past few years in the region d championships would. Sorry but uva wise is screwing up by not recruiting locally like they should. Their program will soon be history like etsu's if their recruits from NoVa and out of state continue. Look at all the local talent that signed the other day, uva wise isnt putting up a fight with tusc, CN, and etc. uva wise's recruiting system is a joke. And this is coming from a person who went through it with them. Most unprofessional thing ever, thats why I didnt take my talents to wise co so to speak.

Exactly. In my opinion, UVA-Wise has missed the boat on many occasions with recruiting. It seems UVA-Wise is not aggressive enough to get close talent. My knowledge of this is with several players who went through the experience with UVA-Wise, as you did, and we all agree 100%. Since the beginning of football at the college, Region D, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Northern Tennessee has produced a stable of very talented football players. Not many at all were given the opportunity to play at Wise. Look up http://www.vhsl.org/files/pub-vhsl-r...-june-2011.pdf and see for yourself. Some homegrown Virginia talent is listed in the record books. I think many of these young men were not even recognized by UVA-Wise and two current record list players are getting ready to be over looked too. Lee’s Graham is listed at 20th on the VHSL all-time list in career rushing with 6008 yards. We all know about his night on the UVA-Wise field with 490 yards, but does anyone from UVA-Wise know this? (Sarcasm) That night produced the 3rd best VHSL all-time single game rushing performance, which came exactly 17 years to the day from the 4th best. That was Thomas Jones and if anyone can tie or break a record held by Thomas Jones then enough said. Graham may walk-on at a bigger school, but why would you not keep going after him legally with all you have plus more. From what I am told, this is not going to happen. Again, not aggressive enough. It would be safe to bet that if Graham does not walk-on somewhere else, UVA-Wise would still not even consider him. It is as if UVA-Wise has a personal grudge against anyone who does not tell them yes right away. Again, not aggressive enough. Haysi’s Dakota Stanley is listed on the VHSL as 9th all-time with 165 career receptions and only 8 catches behind Percy Harvin. I know he is no Harvin, but Stanley is good enough to play at UVA-Wise. Stanley is also tied at 3rd for a VHSL all-time single game in receptions with 17. PREP FOOTBALL: J.I. Burton stops Haysi, 46-28 | TriCities.com This performance was again at the UVA-Wise field. Do you think UVA-Wise realizes this? If so, and from what I am told they do not even have him on their radar, they are missing the boat. Take it for my opinion only, as everybody has one.

**Biggin** · February 5th, 2012, 06:56 PM

Maybe one side tried to reach out, but the other side just refused to respond?

**TheBeast** · February 6th, 2012, 10:08 AM

It's not that they don't want to get kids from around here. I do believe that the odds of a player staying in school and on the team greatly increases with them being from a distance away and getting them away from their old friends. Think about it if the only friends they have around are their new teammates and they all have to do the same thing everyday as far as goin to practice and working around the same schedule then they aren't talkin to runnin around with their high school buddies that don't have to go to practice and such. They see their old buddies out running around having fun while they are workin their but off in practice, weightroom and classroom it is very easy for them to go be with their buddies instead of stickin with football. Playin ball in college is year round not just a few months from Aug-Oct/Nov and the guys at that level have been used to everyone including coaches gushing over them their whole lives and now they are just another kid and it's a hard pill for them to swallow. Same reason freshman that live on campus aren't allowed to have cars at a lot of schools, if they do it's to easy for them to pack up and leave whereas if they don't have it mom and dad are likely to make them stay and tough it out instead of coming to get them and after the first year they are exponentially more likely to stay/come back.

**cowboysnskynyrd** · February 8th, 2012, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by TheBeast

It's not that they don't want to get kids from around here. I do believe that the odds of a player staying in school and on the team greatly increases with them being from a distance away and getting them away from their old friends. Think about it if the only friends they have around are their new teammates and they all have to do the same thing everyday as far as goin to practice and working around the same schedule then they aren't talkin to runnin around with their high school buddies that don't have to go to practice and such. They see their old buddies out running around having fun while they are workin their but off in practice, weightroom and classroom it is very easy for them to go be with their buddies instead of stickin with football. Playin ball in college is year round not just a few months from Aug-Oct/Nov and the guys at that level have been used to everyone including coaches gushing over them their whole lives and now they are just another kid and it's a hard pill for them to swallow. Same reason freshman that live on campus aren't allowed to have cars at a lot of schools, if they do it's to easy for them to pack up and leave whereas if they don't have it mom and dad are likely to make them stay and tough it out instead of coming to get them and after the first year they are exponentially more likely to stay/come back.

Good points. I guess we will never truly know what goes on behind those closed doors or phone calls. A recruiter could have given their all for some of our local talent and it just did not pan out. Selfishly though, I would love to have seen a lot of our areas past high school players together and kicking butt in a Cavalier uniform. If all the cards fell in place, they would have been some tough teams over the past years.

**UnIoNfAn** · February 8th, 2012, 10:59 AM

Imagine if back in the 90s if UVA Wise had got half of the talent in the LPD! They could have been a power house with the kids who were just a little too undersized for D1 that came out of Appy,PV, JIB, JJkelly, Pound, and Coeburn. You could have had some powerful lines and some killer defenses IMO. But as was mentioned who knows what happens behind closed doors?